Nuvora is the Indian joint venture announced by AstorMueller AG—the Switzerland based renowned European footwear major that manages brands bugatti, TT.BAGATT and Salamander. Led by CEO Sandip Baksi, nuvora has evolved into a boutique organisation in the Indian luxury retail market, which envisions a world where fashion is effortless, personalised, and deeply connected to the customer’s individuality.
Going the Franchising Way
Franchising has emerged as a strategic choice for nuvora when looking at rapid and efficient expansion—particularly in a vast and diverse market like India. It allows the brand to scale quickly while keeping capital expenditure lean.
More importantly, it gives nuvora the advantage of partnering with local entrepreneurs who understand regional nuances, consumer preferences, and cultural intricacies far better. Their on-ground insight and agility make them invaluable partners in bringing nuvora to life across different parts of the country.
Franchising is also a key pillar in driving nuvora’s growth and profitability. It enables rapid expansion with lower capital outlay while ensuring deep market penetration. By tapping into the local expertise of its franchise partners, nuvora strengthens consumer connect and maintains operational agility across diverse markets. This partnership-led model allows it to scale efficiently while lowering capital expenditure, ensuring that growth remains sustainable and fully aligned with long-term brand vision.
nuvora’s Franchise Model
nuvora is open to different models and evaluates each on a case-by-case basis to ensure the best possible results for every location. The focus is on identifying the right structure based on the market potential, partner capabilities, and the strategic fit with their brand goals, allowing nuvora to maintain flexibility while driving sustainable growth. All nuvora stores in India currently operate under the franchise model. The structure allows the brand to maintain a strong market presence while delivering a consistent, premium experience to customers across regions.
A Data-Driven Franchise Network
nuvora is building a data-driven franchise operations framework to strengthen its network and drive operational excellence. This will allow it to automate checks and balances across retail operations, ensuring consistency, efficiency, and faster decision-making. By leveraging data & technology, nuvora aims to empower its franchise partners while maintaining tight alignment with brand standards as it scales.
What Makes for a Perfect Franchise Partner
Franchising is more than a business model for nuvora; it’s a brand-building collaboration. At nuvora the ideal franchise partner is:
- Someone who not only brings strong operational and retail capabilities but also shares nuvora’s passion for premium fashion and customer experience.
- Partners who understand the nuances of their local market, have a proven track record in retail, and are committed to upholding nuvora’s standards.
- Equally important is their alignment with nuvora’s long-term vision.
- The brand seeks partners who are hands-on, proactive, and willing to invest in creating a consistent, high-quality brand experience across every customer touchpoint.
Training & Support to Franchise Partners
nuvora firmly believes that its franchisees are an extension of the brand, and hence invests deeply in setting them up for success from Day One. nuvora’s franchisees are backed by a 360° support system that helps them grow while staying true to the brand ethos. Their support spans every critical area including but not limited to:
- Brand Orientation: Franchise teams undergo a robust induction into the bugatti and TT.BAGATT brand ethos, values, and customer promises. This helps ensure consistent brand experience across all touchpoints.
- Product Training: nuvora provides detailed product knowledge sessions to ensure staff understand the design philosophy, craftsmanship, and features of every collection so they can confidently guide customers.
- Customer Service Training: From tone of voice to in-store etiquette, nuvora trains teams on delivering service that reflects the sophistication and warmth expected of a premium European lifestyle brand.
- IT & POS Support: nuvora also offers end-to-end assistance with their retail tech stack, including POS systems, inventory management tools, and integrations to ensure smooth daily operations.
- Visual Merchandising (VM): nuvora’s VM team provides detailed guidelines and seasonal directives, along with regular audits to maintain global visual standards.
- Marketing Support: Franchisees receive ongoing marketing support from national campaigns and digital assets to localised activations ensuring visibility, footfall, and alignment with nuvora’s brand positioning.
Challenges Faced
nuvora truly believes that bringing in a franchisee is equivalent to adding a stakeholder whose operational excellence, quality vs. quantity mindset, and profit expectations need to align with the brand’s vision. Keeping this in mind, one of the biggest challenges nuvora faces is ensuring that partners don’t prioritise short-term gains over long-term brand consistency. It’s essential that every franchisee understands and truly imbibes the brand’s vision so they can deliver it consistently to the consumer and build long-term trust. To aid in tackling any challenges, nuvora has a rigorous SOP framework and robust guidelines in place.
Standard Operating Procedure
To ensure uniformity and brand consistency while setting up new franchise stores, nuvora follows a clear and rigorous SOP framework.
- Their store designs are standardised in line with their global layouts, ensuring that every bugatti space reflects the brand’s premium aesthetic and warmth.
- Fixtures are sourced from approved vendors to maintain consistency in quality and finish.
- Store operations adhere to brand-defined standards, while their detailed VM guidelines—which are shared weekly, monthly and quarterly—ensure that product presentation remains aligned with nuvora’s global brand language from Day One.
This disciplined approach allows nuvora to deliver a seamless bugatti experience, regardless of location.
Key Guidelines & Investment Expectations
When nuvora evaluates a potential partner, its primary expectation is alignment on the brand’s vision and long-term goals. Once this alignment is established, nuvora then focuses on building a multi-store, multi-city partnership that can grow sustainably over time. Investment expectations on the other hand are subjective and depend on the city, location, and specific market potential, especially given the significant variations in retail rentals across locations in the current environment. This flexible, case-by-case approach allows nuvora to maintain its premium positioning while ensuring that each store is set up for success in its unique context.
Expansion & The Future
nuvora is now actively looking to expand in metros and state capitals across India. Additionally, they see strong potential in high-growth cities that are not state capitals, such as Pune, Surat, and Indore, and are keen to establish their presence in these markets with the right franchise partners.
The future of franchising in Indian fashion retail will be defined by seamless integration between physical and digital channels. Consumers today expect not just premium products, but premium experiences; personalised, convenient, and consistent across every touchpoint. For franchise models to stay relevant, they must evolve beyond transactional retail to offer immersive brand environments backed by strong omnichannel capabilities.
nuvora sees franchising becoming smarter and more experience-driven, with a greater emphasis on technology, data insights, and localised engagement. Franchise partners will play a pivotal role in delivering hyper-local customer experiences while being fully integrated into a brand’s central digital ecosystem— from click to brick. The brands that can empower their partners with the right tools, training, and tech will be the ones that thrive in this new landscape.
Brand Consistency & Experience at bugatti
At bugatti, consistency in brand experience is non-negotiable, whether it’s a l agship store or a franchise outlet. The brand ensures this through a tightly integrated support system that includes detailed brand manuals, store design guidelines, regular staff training, and visual merchandising playbooks. From the moment a customer walks in, every element from the layout & lighting to the product display & service is designed to reflect the bugatti ethos of European sophistication and effortless style. In addition, bugatti conducts periodic audits and stays in close contact with franchise partners to ensure alignment, while also offering them the tools to succeed. It’s a collaborative effort—one that ensures every bugatti store delivers the same premium experience, no matter where it’s located.
